^ 


A    ) 


AN 


ADDRESS, 


Delivered  in  SpriDgfieW,  Oct.  7,  and  in  Nortiiamptou,  Oct.  14, 


BEFORE    THE 


AGRiOULTURAL     SOCIETIES 


HAMPSHIRE,  IRANKIIN,  AND    HAMPDEN   COUNTIES 


AT     THEIR 


ANNIVERSARY      FAIRS, 


13  4  7. 


BY  CHARLES  UrilAM  SHEPARD. 

Sachusetts  Prof,  of  CnemistTy  and  Nab.  History  in  Amherst  Colle£ 
Prof,  of  Cliemiatry  in  tae  Medical  College,  of  Soutb  Carolina 


'*^H 


*    -     •    ' '«,,-; 


# 


AN 


ADDRESS, 

Delivered  in  Springfield,  Oet.  7,  and  in  Northampton,  Oct.  14, 


BEFORE    THE 


A6EICULTURAL     SOCIETIES 

OF 

HAMPSHIRE,  FRANKLIN,  AND  HAMPDEN  COUNTIES, 

AT    THEIK 

ANNIVERSARY      FAIRS, 
1847. 

BY  CHARLES  UPHAM  SHEPARD. 

Uassachusetts  Prof,  of  Chemistry  and  Nat.  History  in  Amherst  Colloge 
Prof,  of  Chemistry  in  the  Medical  College  of  South  Carolina, 


NORTHAMPTON." 

PRINTED      BY      JOHN      HETCALr. 

184  7. 


Northampton,  Oct.  14,  1847. 
Sir:— 

In  accordance  with  the  vote  of  the  Hampshire,  Franklin  and  Hamp- 
den Agricultural  Society,  adopted  this  day,  we  tender  to  you  its  thanks 
for  your  very  interesting,  able  and  scientific  address,  and  request  of  you 
the  favor  of  a  copy  of  it  for  the  press. 

WELLS  LATHROP,         ^ 

S.  GRAHAM,  S  Committee. 

EDWARD  DICKINSON,  J 

Prof.  Charles  U.  Sheparo. 


Ahhekst  Collegk,  Oct.  16,  1847. 

To  the  Committee  of  the  Hampshire,  Franklin, 
and  Hampden  Agricultural  Society. 

Gentlemen  : — 

Grateful  for  the  indulgence  with  which  my  imperfect  discourse 
was  received  by  its  hearers,  I  now  submit  it,  in  accordance  with  the  vote 
of  your  Society,  for  publication;  though  not  without  considerable  hesita- 
tion, on  account  of  the  reception  it  is  destined  to  meet  from  the  reader. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

CHARLES  UPHAM  SHEPARD. 

To  Messrs.  Wells  Lathrop,  S.  Graham  and  Edward  Dickinson. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2007 


httpy/archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOshepialal 


ADDRESS. 


It  would  be  difficult  perhaps,  to  single  out  any  association 
connected  with  the  business  of  life  that  has  surpassed  the  Agri- 
•cultural  Society,  in  usefulness  to  mankind.  Its  origin  and  office 
are  easily  understood.  It  is  a  natural  growth  from  that  friendly 
intercourse,  existing  between  persons  engaged  in  this  noblest  of 
all  arts.  In  place  of  the  no-admittance,  so  commonly  placarded 
over  the  doors  of  workshops  and  mills,  it  has  happily  ever  been 
the  interest  and  the  custom  of  the  farmer,  to  invite  his  neighbor 
and  the  stranger  even,  to  a  free  survey  of  his  acres.  His  would 
seem  to  be  a  pursuit,  too  ennobled  of  heaven,  to  give  counte- 
nance to  secrets  and  patents.  He  rears  no  barriers  to  conceal 
his  crops ;  he  employs  no  private  nostrums  for  enriching  his  soil. 
All  is  open  and  above  board,  like  the  clear  canopy  of  day,  be- 
neath which  his  labors  are  conducted.  Instead  of  hindering 
any  man,  whose  object  is  information  from  crossing  his  fields,  he 
is  ever  ready  to  become  his  conductor,  and  to  explain  to  him 
the  details  of  his  success :  nor  does  he  covet  a  prouder  reward, 
than  to  find  his  example  in  some  particular  deemed  worthy  of 
imitation. 

The  agricultural  society  is  merely  an  expansion  of  this  unself- 
ish intercourse  among  farmers,  in  which  the  men  of  remoter 
neighborhoods  seek  to  become  acquainted  with  one  another,  to 
compare  ideas  on  a  wider  range  of  topics ;  and  in  which,  they 
carry  the  generous  emulation  excited,  to  its  highest  pitch,  by 
yearly  exhibitions  of  their  products  and  skill.  The  compara- 
tively unimportant  appendage  of  the  annual  address  would 
scarcely  be  worthy  of  mention,  save  for  the  purpose  of  explain- 
ing the  reason  of  our  present  meeting.  It  seems  to  have  grown, 
in  part  at  least,  out  of  a  desire  of  persons  of  other  pursuits,  to 
meet  the  farmei"s  and  their  happy  families,  face  to  face  in  some 


1 


formal  manner ;  and  to  assure  them  of  their  deep  sympathy  in 
the  march  of  improvement.  The  speaker,  so  far  as  I  understand 
it,  is  generally  selected  from  one  of  the  side  pursuits  of  society ; 
and  being  called  to  address  a  popular  assembly,  is  not  expected 
to  be  learnedly  didactic,  or  technically  profound.  If  his  subject 
can  be  seen  to  have  a  bearing  upon  agriculture ;  if  his  aim 
seems  honest  and  well  intended  for  the  public  good  ;  and  if 
moreover,  his  words  are  few,  he  is  generally  allowed  to  go  un- 
scathed of  censure.  Deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  bestowed 
upon  me,  in  carrying  out  this  last  feature  of  the  agricultural  so- 
ciety, and  conscious  of  scarcely  any  other  qualification  for  filling 
so  delicate  a  position,  than  what  may  arise  out  of  a  passionate 
admiration  of  country  life,  and  a  high  regard  for  the  cultivators 
of  the  soil  themselves,  I  shall  proceed,  according  to  the  best  of 
my  ability,  to  lay  before  you  a  few  reflections,  that  have  sug- 
gested themselves,  as  bottling  the  occasion.  They  will  relate 
to  a  supposed  deficiency  of  scientific  information  in  the  agricul- 
tural community,  and  the  need  of  its  being  supplied,  as  a  fii-st 
condition  to  a  higher  success.  In  treating  these  topics,  I  am 
aware,  that  I  shall  bring  to  your  notice  little  more  than  the  echo 
of  a  wide  spreading  public  sentiment,  and  one  in  which  I  doubt 
not  this  society  itself  participates :  but  though  little  that  is  new 
may  be  presented,  an  impetus  for  good  may  perhaps  be  hoped 
for,  in  the  propitious  auspices  of  the  occasion. 

In  attempting  to  describe  the  limited  prevalence  of  scientific 
information  among  the  agricultural  population,  it  must  in  justice 
be  premised,  that  the  defect  is  alike  shared  by  the  people  gener- 
ally of  all  pursuits  and  professions.  The  farmer  is  by  no  means 
singular  in  his  unacquaintance  with  chemistry,  natural  history 
and  physiology,  though  from  the  nature  of  his  occupation,  he 
suffers  more  than  others,  by  such  ignorance.  Nor  are  sufficient 
reasons  wanting  in  explanation  of  the  fact  assumed.  The  prac- 
tical bearings  of  these  studies  have  but  lately  been  discovered. 
Indeed  the  most  valued  results  of  some  of  them  have  only  been 
obtained  within  a  few  years ;  and  hitherto,  no  thorough  attempt 
has  been  made,  to  ingraft  them  upon  our  system  of  school  edu- 
cation. 


Bear  with  me  then,  respected  friends,  while  1  hold  up  a  few 
aspects  of  that  want  of  knowledge,  which  appears  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  your  realizing  many  of  the  improvements  at  which 
your  organization  aims.  It  would  be  an  easier,  and  in  some 
respects,  a  more  grateful  task,  to  recount  the  progress  that  indi- 
viduals among  us  are  making,  and  to  exult  in  our  present  attain- 
ments and  future  prospects ;  but  I  think  you  will  agree  with 
me,  that  it  might  not  bear  so  hopefully  on  the  future,  as  the  less 
pleasing  duty  now  proposed. 

In  the  first  place  then,  the  cultivator  of  the  soil  is  not  ac- 
quainted with  that  internal  constitution  of  matter,  that  makes  it 
what  it  is  in  itself,  or  with  those  forces  acting  upon  it,  which 
make  it  what  it  is,  in  the  various  uses  he  has  occasion  to  make 
of  it.  While  he  recognizes  a  few  species  of  matter,  such  as 
iron,  lead,  copper,  sulphur  and  charcoal,  which  he  cannot  help 
regarding  as  undecomposable  into  any  thing  simpler  ;  the  ques- 
tion never  occurs,  how  the  case  stands  in  respect  to  air,  water, 
clay,  sand,  vegetable  mold,  woody  fibre,  starch,  sugar,  oil  and 
bone,  with  the  whole  crowd  of  familiar  substances  by  which  we 
are  surrounded.  Indeed,  to  persons  unacquainted  with  Chemis- 
try, the  very  idea  of  an  element  is  a  mystery  in  itself;  while,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  they  can  know  nothing  of  their  number,  or 
comparative  importance  in  nature  ;  and  still  less,  of  the  reasons 
for  believing  that  they  remain  to  this  day,  in  the  number  and 
shape  of  their  final  atoms,  the  same  as  in  their  first  creation. 
Out  of  the  thirty  or  forty  of  these  elements,  necessary  to  be 
known,  in  order  to  comprehend  the  constitution  of  ordinary  mat- 
ter, how  small  a  number  has  the  farmer  been  permitted  to  see 
in  an  insulated  shape,  and  in  those  he  has  accidentally  seen, 
how  rarely  has  he  recognized  this  elementary  character !  Equal- 
ly unconscious  is  he  of  the  fact,  that  these  elements,  if  brought 
into  contact  with  each  other,  possess  in  various,  but  perfectly 
determinate  degrees,  the  power  of  inter-union  ;  so  that  two  or 
three  different  elements  rush  into  an  intimate  combination,  with 
a  force  far  less  under  our  power  to  control,  than  may  be  requir- 
ed to  suspend  a  body  from  falling  to  the  earth  ;  that  the  new 
bodies  again  possess  a  similar  power  among  themselves,  of  uniting 


8 

fo  produce  a  higher  order  of  compounds  ;  that  in  all  these,  the 
elements  are  present  in  proportions,  never  varying  by  the  minu- 
test fraction  ;  and  finally,  that  all  compounds,  whether  natural 
or  artificial,  whether  the  products  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  or 
built  up  under  the  influence  of  vitality,  are  all  liable  to  be  sub- 
verted in  their  composition  and  to  have  their  elements  collocated 
anew,  simply  by  the  presence  of  other  forms  of  matter,  or  the 
influence  of  heat,  light,  electricity  or  the  living  principle  itself. 

Without  these  ideas,  fundamental  as  they  are  to  an  intelli- 
gence of  the  source  and  origin  of  soils,  and  the  separate  agen- 
cies of  earth,  air  and  water  in  vegetable  growth,  the  whole  art 
of  the  husbandman  is  one  of  the  blindest  enigmas  ever  present- 
ed to  the  human  mind  ;  and  no  wonder  is  it,  in  such  a  case, 
that  the  bulk  of  mankind  regard  the  disguised  forms  in  which 
the  elements  present  themselves  in  ordinary  vegetable  growths, 
as  independent,  original  shapes,  created  by  the  vital  principle, 
outright.  For  what  other  more  rational  view  is  there  left  to  the 
man,  who  plants  a  kernel  of  corn,  and  who  knows  not  of  the 
fifteen  elements  of  matter  that  are  requisite  to  the  formation  of 
the  perfect  stalk  and  full  grown  ear,  which,  and  how  many,  find 
access  by  the  root,  and  which  by  the  blade,  who  discerns  neith- 
er the  routes  by  which  they  enjter,  nor  the  shapes  in  which  they 
come.  What  is  more  natural  than  for  such  a  mind  to  conclude, 
that  the  seed  planted  possesses,  in  some  way,  the  power,  under 
the  favoring  stimulus  of  a  rich  soil  and  a  genial  temperature,  of 
creating  anew  each  increment  that  is  made  to  its  substance. 
The  planter  sees  nothing  enter  the  tissue,  he  detects  nothing 
within  it,  that  his  senses  recognize  as  belonging  either  to  the  air 
above,  the  earth  beneath,  or  the  waters  under  the  earth.  Where- 
fore then,  should  he  regard  vegetable  growth,  other  than  a  new 
production,  like  that  of  matter  m  its  first  creation  ?  Well  may 
he  continue  to  call  his  crops  produce,  though  to  the  view  of  the 
chemist,  they  are  as  simply  manufactures  as  the  products  of  the 
button-factory,  the  flouring-mill,  or  the  paper-machine. 

The  cultivator  has  indeed  learned  by  experience  that  certain 
soils  are  adapted  to  particular  crops,  and  has  perhaps  been  told 
that  this  depends  upon  the  fact  that  some  chemical  compound 


is  present,  or  absent,  in  such  soils.  He  has  lieard  it  assigned  as 
a  reason,  why  the  grasses  soon  tire,  if  kept  without  change  in 
one  soil,  that  they  exhaust  the  alkaline  silicates  more  rapidly, 
than  in  the  process  of  decomposition  or  of  manuring,  they  are 
afforded  to  the  soil.  Phosphates  of  lime  and  magnesia  and  ni- 
trogenized  bodies  are  mentioned  as  indispensable  to  the  grain 
crops.  But  what  are  silicates  and  phosphates  and  nitrogen- 
compounds,  but  terms  of  ignorance,  to  the  uninitiated  ?  Neither 
their  composition  nor  properties  can  be  understood,  without  the 
fundamental  information  of  which  we  are  speaking.  What  the 
practical  man  wants,  is  to  be  carried  clear  back  of  words,  to 
things, — behind  compounds,  to  elements.  These  for  once  in 
his  life  at  least,  he  should  be  permitted  to  see  face  to  face.  He 
ought  to  know,  whether  they  are  solid,  liquid  or  aeriform  ;  what 
is  their  color,  density,  and  other  sensible  properties  :  and  more 
especially,  what  friendships  they  have  for  one  another ;  by 
what  laws  they  build  themselves  up  into  compounds ;  and  by 
what  rules,  these  again,  transform  themselves  into  still  other  com' 
binations,  or  split  into  their  primitive  elements. 

But  leaving  the  composition  of  the  solid  earth,  and  the  living 
beings  it  supports,  what,  let  us  inquire,  is  known  concerning  the 
air,  that  transparent  medium,  in  which  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being  ?  How  far  is  its  actual  weight  appreciated,  what 
is  known  of  its  power  of  commingling  with  other  gases,  of  dis- 
solving liquids  and  even  solids  themselves  ?  Who  realizes  that 
the  air,  in  invariable  proportions,  is  made  up  essentially  of  two 
elements,  as  diverse  in  nature,  as  charcoal  and  sulphur  ?  How 
few  are  aware,  that  it  is  ever  suffering  important  changes  from 
the  burning  of  combustibles  and  the  breathing  of  animals  ;  and 
that  these  changes  would  be  fatal  to  ourselves,  unless  corrected 
by  the  respiration  of  plants  !  Notwithstanding  much  is  said 
about  the  atmosphere,  about  good  and  bad  air,  and  airs  dry  and 
wet,  hot  and  cold,  very  few  are  the  persons  who  are  rationally 
convinced  of  the  nature  of  that  deterioration,  which  takes  place 
in  an  atmosphere  that  has  sustained  the  combustion  of  ordinary 
fuel  or  lights.  Few,  very  few,  are  the  persons,  who  practically 
believe,  that  the  burning  of  coals  and  candles,  generates  a  pois- 
2 


10 

onous  gas,  wliich,  when  it  rises  to  the  proportion  of  tliree  parts 
in  the  hundred  of  the  air,  is  adequate  in  a  few  hours  of  time,  to 
produce  insensibiUty  and  death !  That  this  ignorance  is  not  im- 
aginary, we  have  the  most  unhappy  proofs  occurring  ahnost 
weekly,  throughout  the  cold  season  of  the  year,  in  the  produc- 
tion of  alarming  symptoms,  and  not  unfrequently,  of  melancholy 
deaths.  This  is  a  case,  where  it  would  seem  that  nothing  short 
of  science  can  impart  the  necessary  faith.  What  can  appear 
more  harmless,  than  to  breathe  the  air  of  a  room,  where  the 
burning  fuel  yields  neither  odor  nor  smoke !  "  Why  suffer  one's 
self,"  says  the  shivering  lodger  in  some  contracted  apartment 
without  a  6re-place,  "to  be  alarmed  where  no  danger  is  appar- 
ent 1  What  if  it  has  been  said  that  charcoal  vapors  are  danger- 
ous, there  do  not  seem  to  be  any  of  them  here :  besides,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  the  reasons  of  such  a  prejudice."  Meanwhile  the 
warmth  is  genial ;  and  the  unsuspecting  victim  quickly  compo- 
ses himself  to  a  slumber  from  which  he  is  never  again  to  awake  I 
The  jury  of  inquest  summoned  on  the  following  day,  give  it  as 
"  death  from  charcoal  vapors  ;"  but  the  chemist,  who  reads  the 
verdict  in  some  newspaper,  translates  it  to  "  death  from  igno- 
rance of  chemistry."  For,  had  the  victim,  when  at  the  district 
school  in  youth,  been  blessed  with  the  sight  of  a  few  experimen- 
tal illustrations  in  science,  he  would  as  soon  have  leaped  into  a 
well,  as  have  retired  to  sleep  in  a  close  apartment,  warmed  by 
an  open  furnace  of  charcoal  ! 

But  a  more  universal  proof  of  practical  disbelief  in  the  prop- 
erties of  the  air,  and  its  vitiation  by  being  breathed,  is  afforded 
by  the  general  neglect  of  ventilation,  in  country  houses.  The 
architects  of  our  cities  and  larger  towns  do  indeed  appreciate,  to 
a  good  degree,  the  phenomena  that  transpire  in  the  breathing  of 
atmospheric  air.  They  act  upon  the  well  estabhshed  facts,  that 
every  individual,  according  to  his  age  and  size,  requires  a  cer- 
tain number  of  cubic  feet  of  pure  air  for  his  daily  consumption 
in  the  lungs,  just  as  absolutely,  as  he  does  a  certain  number  of 
ounces  of  food  for  nourishment,  in  the  stomach  ;  and  that  the 
air  thus  breathed  has  its  life-su.staining  element  first  absorbed, 
and  then  returned  to  the  air  in  the  condition  of  the  same  narcot- 


n 

ic  poison,  as  that  which  is  given  off  by  burning  fuel  ;  and  which, 
when  it  has  risen  into  the  air  of  an  apartment  in  a  certain  pro- 
portion, begins  to  act  as  an  oppressive  soporific,  and  may  in  par- 
ticular cases,  from  want  of  free  ventilation,  accumulate  to  such 
an  extent,  as  to  occasion  lasting,  and  even  dangerous  indisposi- 
tion. Such  architects  accordingly,  construct  apartments  of  the 
proper  height  and  shape,  and  with  apertures  in  the  sides  and 
top,  to  facilitate  a  communication  with  the  external  atmosphere. 
But  how  is  it  in  the  country  ?  Let  the  small  dormitories  of 
most  country  inns,  the  cage-like  dimensions  of  school-houses,  the 
low,  flat  ceilings  of  town-halls,  and  even  churches,  give  the 
•reply  ;  to  say  nothing,  of  the  contracted  apartments  of  the  farm- 
er's own  dwelling,  for  which  no  apology  can  he  found  in  the 
costliness  of  a  ground-plot,  or  the  scarcity  of  building  materials. 
Many  are  the  laborers  in  the  field,  it  is  to  be  feared,  whose  sleep 
is  shorn  of  more  than  half  its  refreshment,  from  a  disregard  to 
the  fixed  relations  they  sustain  to  the  atmosphere.  Many  have 
been  the  speakers  who  fondly  hoped  to  move  their  fellow  men 
by  the  force  of  their  arguments,  or  to  delight  them  with  the 
playfulness  of  their  wit,  who  have  found,  when  they  rose  to  the 
task  in  some  flat-roofed,  closely  shut  hall,  that  an  unexpected 
extinguisher  to  their  intellects  was  on  both  themselves,  and  their 
auditors.  Many  a  highly  talented  teacher  of  sacred  things, 
whose  people,  in  spite  of  his  and  their  best  endeavors,  have 
sunk  into  torpor  and  listlessness,  would  do  better  to  change 
some  of  his  meetings  into  a  plain  illustration  of  those  laws  of 
nature,  and  of  our  physical  constitution,  which  would  enable  us 
to  enjoy  without  self-injury,  the  commonest  blessings  of  Provi- 
dence, at  the  same  time  that  they  place  us  in  a  better  position 
for  appreciating  the  higher  truths,  that  affect  our  moral  destiny. 
For  this  reason,  I  confess  that  I  have  been  disposed  to  look  with 
more  favor,  than  many  appear  to  do,  upon  those  religious  meet- 
ings which  are  occasionally  held  in  the  open  air,  in  the  streets 
of  London  and  Edinburgh,  and  in  the  fields  and  forests  of  our 
own  land.  They  are  certainly  favorable  to  the  highest  and 
clearest  efforts  of  speakers,  no  less  than  to  the  deepest  and  most 
lasting  impressions  of  hearers  ;  and  such  performances  can  hardly 


12 

be  brought  into  comparison  with  those  confused  and  fugitive 
thoughts,  poured  forth  from  lialf  comatose  brains,  upon  audien- 
ces, panting  quite  as  much  for  wholesome  air,  as  for  a  hoher  hfe. 

Few  persons  are  conscious  of  the  extent  to  which  philosophi- 
cal principles  are  involved  in  the  sphere  of  the  farmer's  labors, 
or  of  the  importance  of  their  being  understood,  to  the  minutest 
detail.  The  stable-yard  inclosure  is,  properly  speaking,  the 
farmer's  bank.  Now  is  he,  think  you,  a  good  money-banker, 
who  never  troubles  himself  about  the  fluctuations  of  trade,  or 
the  theory  of  discounts  and  exchanges ;  who  knows  not  the 
value  of  different  currencies  ;  who  takes  without  discrimination 
whatever  is  offered  and  pays  out  whatever  is  called  for ;  and 
above  all,  who  never  locks  his  doors,  or  his  money  chest.  Just 
so  injudicious  is  the  farmer,  who  comprehends  not  the  theory  of 
organic  fermentation,  and  who  is  ignorant  of  the  composition  and 
value  of  the  nameless  matters  that  accumulate  in  the  stable- 
yard  ;  and  who  leaves  all  exposed  to  the  winds,  the  rains  and 
the  sunshine  of  heaven. 

One  of  the  simplest,  but  yet  one  of  the  most  universal  of  all 
the  properties  of  matter,  is  its  regular  expansion  for  every  addi- 
tion of  heat ;  so  that,  the  scientifically  trained  person  never 
looks  to  see  matter  around  him,  preserving  uniform  dimensions, 
any  more,  than  to  see  the  mercury  in  the  thermometer  stationa- 
ry. All  bodies  are  perpetually  enlarging  and  contracting,  as 
they  acquire  or  lose,  even  the  slightest  degrees  of  warmth. 
Were  but  this  very  common  principle  better  apprehended,  many 
are  the  structures  of  masonry,  that  would  now  be  standing  all 
the  stronger,  without  the  rods  of  iron,  with  which  their  builders 
vainly  attempted  to  strengthen  them.  And  many  a  valuable 
horse  would  go  free  of  pain  and  the  fault  of  lameness  from  hav- 
ing had  a  shoe  nailed  to  his  foot,  before  it  had  cooled  down  to 
the  temperature  of  the  hoof.  A  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance, 
was  lately  placed  in  a  most  awkward  dilemma,  from  the  igno- 
rance of  the  blacksmith,  who  set  up  a  piece  of  iron  paling  in 
front  of  his  house,  without  making  any  allowance  for  the  expan- 
sion and  contraction  of  the  material  under  ordinary  changes  of 
temperature.    The  consequence  was,  that  while  the  central  gate 


13 

in  front  of  his  door,  would  open  and  close  with  facility  in  cool 
weather,  it  was  as  immovable,  in  hot,  as  the  fence  to  which  it 
pertained.  And  thus,  the  surprise  of  the  proprietor's  visitors 
and  friends  may  easily  be  conjectured,  when  they  found,  that 
the  warmer  the  day,  the  colder  was  their  reception  ! 

But  is  there  no  need  of  chemistry  within  the  farmer's  house  ? 
A  little  instruction  in  the  doctrine  of  chimney-draughts,  and  in 
the  laws  which  regulate  the  radiation  of  heat,  would  not  only  be 
a  specific  for  many  a  smoky  apartment,  ^ut  would  very  nearly 
overturn  the  present  economy  of  open  fire-places  and  ovens. 
And  suflfer  me  to  ask,  if  we  do  not  still  hear  of  the  caprices  of 
soap-making,  and  failures  in  the  making  of  palatable  bread.  Wc 
would  not  be  thought  mealy  mouthed,  but  are  there  no  excep- 
tions to  mealy  potatoes  on  the  family  table  ?  Does  the  house- 
keeper, who  essays  the  making  of  sweet-meats,  and  who  has 
scrupulously  observed  the  proportions  of  fruit  and  sugar,  not 
sometimes  find,  to  her  surprise,  that  no  jelly  crowns  the  experi- 
ment ?  But  the  greatest  case  of  defective  knowledge  in  domes- 
tic life,  undoubtedly  relates  to  the  use  of  bolted  flour,  instead  of 
the  whole  ground,  or  unsifted  meal ;  since  the  latter  surpasses 
the  former,  by  one  half,  in  all  the  purposes  of  nutriment,  and 
fully  equals  it  in  agreeableness  of  flavor.*  If  the  fastidious  in- 
habitants of  the  city  will  still  adhere  to  that  preparation  of  the 
cereals,  which  consists  of  little  else  than  pure  starch,  to  the  re- 
jection of  those  more  precious  constituents,  which  every  chemist 
knows  to  be  indispensable  for  imparting  wireyness  to  the  muscle, 
fullness  to  the  outline,  and  strength  to  the  bone,  why  of  course, 
there  is  no  help  for  this  folly ;  unless  perhaps  it  be,  for  them  to 
take  still  another  portion  of  starch,  in  the  fomi  of  buckram,  and 
as  a  substitute  for  live  bones,  to  go  on  borrowing  from  the  whale, 
in  order  to  prop  themselves  into  shape  ;  but  let  us  never  be  told 
of  farmers,  who  are  willing  to  do  such  violence  to  home-spun 
common  sense,  as  to  banish  the  good  old  fashioned  brown  loaf, 
together  with  unbolted  meal  cakes  and  puddings  in  all  their  sim- 
ple and  delicious  forms. 

*  See  Prof.  Johnston's  paper  on  the  chemical  composition  of  unbolted,  or 
.  vvhole-ground  meal,  in  a  late  number  of  tlie  London  Chemist. 


14 

Did  the  lime  allow,  wc  nii^rht  go  on  to  particnlarize  other  de- 
partments of  science,  at  present,  but  httle  appreciated  by  the 
farmer  ;  such  for  instance  as  those  connected  with  meteorology, 
the  sources  of  springs,  the  origin  of  soils,  the  laws  of  electricity, 
together  with  vegetable  and  animal  physiology.  It  is  not  de- 
nied, that  much  is  understood  on  all  these  subjects,  as  well  as 
upon  those  which  have  been  noticed  more  at  large ;  what  is 
complained  of  is  this,  that  the  current  facts  are  not  systematical- 
ly acquired,  or  arranged  in  the  mind,  under  their  appropriate 
principles.  The  consequence  is,  that  a  majority  of  them  are  in- 
operative. They  are  rarely  at  command  when  they  might  prove 
of  service  ;  and  are  even  incompetent  to  suggest  any  thing  in 
advance  of  themselves.  Unarranged  facts  by  the  side  of  gen- 
eral principles,  are  like  mob-force  when  compared  with  that  of 
disciplined  troops.  What  we  so  much  want  is,  an  intelligent 
comprehension  of  a  few  governing  principles.  About  these,  all 
related  facts  will  cluster  spontaneously,  as  iron-filings  gather 
round  the  poles  of  a  magnet ;  and  the  principles,  like  the  mag- 
netic needle,  will  be  sure  to  point  the  right  way. 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  some,  who  will  have  it,  that  the 
cultivator  has  no  business  with  scientific  knowledge  ;  and  who 
maintain,  that  dry  rules  are  enough  to  meet  his  wants.  Passing 
i)y  the  moral  disrespect  implied  in  such  an  opinion,  it  will  be 
enough  to  say,  that  the  farmer  is  required  for  the  most  part  to 
supply  his  own  rules  of  thrift.  There  is  no  great  fountain  of 
•wisdom  and  beneficence  in  the  learned  professions,  in  the  other 
arts,  or  in  the  state,  from  whence,  the  needed  information  may 
flow  forth.  On  the  contrary,  the  improvement  must  be  made 
by  those,  who  want  it, — by  those,  who  are  to  experience  its 
greatest  benefit.  And  when  it  is  made,  it  will  often  be  found, 
not  to  consist  in  a  few  summary  processes,  so  plain  and  easy  as 
to  secure  immediate  and  universal  success,  but  rather  in  a  scru- 
pulous attention  to  petty  details,  before  overlooked,  but  which 
in  the  light  of  science,  are  perceived  to  be  of  prime  importance 
to  the  grand  result.  The  common  farmer,  without  such  light, 
will  of  course  keep  on  in  the  old  sort  of  routine.  As  he  lacks 
the  faidi  in  natural  laws,  he  cannot  be  expected  to  manifest  that 


I 


15 

constant  vigilance  and  enduring  patience,  on  wliich  alone,  the 
improved  success  attends.  No  :  nothing  can  be  more  certain- 
than  the  fact,  that  if  the  farmer  is  to  reach  a  higher  grade  of  in- 
dependence, it  can  only  be  the  result  of  an  education,  in  some 
sense,  corresponding  to  such  a  destiny.  If  it  is  attempted  to 
bring  about  the  result,  by  a  better  education  in  matters  of  histo- 
ry, general  literature,  political  economy  and  even  religion,  to  the 
neglect  of  the  scientific  principles  concerned  in  his  art,  it  will  be 
found,  that  no  progress  will  ensue.  For  the  fanner,  before  eve- 
ry other,  is  the  "  man,"  of  whom  it  is  the  truest,  as  Hum- 
boldt has  said  that,  he  "  can  make  no  use  of  nature,  can  appro- 
priate none  of  her  powers,  if  he  be  not  conversant  with  her 
laws,  and  the  relations  of  number  and  measure,  existing  amid 
her  processes." 

But  it  is  time  to  recur  to  the  voice  of  experience,  in  relation 
to  the  benefits  of  scientific  knowledge  in  agriculture.  The  mod- 
em history  of  British  husbandry,  furnishes  all  the  testimony  we 
require  on  this  point.  In  adducing  the  results  on  which  I  rely, 
your  attention  will  also  be  directed  to  some  of  those  principles, 
on  which  the  experiments  were  based  ;  and  in  view  of  which, 
the  great  changes  in  their  system  of  culture  have  been  effected. 

We  shall  first  notice  what  has  followed,  from  the  system  of 
thorough  draining.  In  taking  off  the  superfluous  water  by  un- 
derground drains  at  a  depth  of  2  l-2"feet,  and  placed  8  or  10 
yards  asunder,  they  aimed  at  the  following  advantages : — 1st, 
To  impart  to  the  soil  a  comparatively  dry  and  porous  state, 
whereby  it  would  be  fireely  percolated  by  the  warmer  water, 
felling  in  showers  ;  and  which  brings  down  from  the  atmosphere, 
carbonic  acid,  nitric  acid  and  ammonia, — those  essential  ele- 
ments of  vegetable  growth  :  2d.  To  increase  the  temperature  of 
the  soil  still  farther,  by  freeing  it  from  that  constant  presence  of 
water,  which  chills  whatever  is  in  contact  with  it  from  evapora-^ 
tion  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  to  allow  of  the  penetration  of  at- 
mospheric air  among  the  pores  of  the  soil,  where  it  may  minister 
to  those  chemical  changes  indispensable  to  the  nutrition  of 
plants :  and  3dly,  To  lighten  the  labor  of  tillage,  and  to  im- 
prove the  healthfulness  of  regions,  where  fever  and  ague  miasms 


16 

before  aboundetl.  All  these  advantages  were  quickly  realized  ; 
and  lands  which  had  afforded  only  a  pasture  of  the  coarsest 
kind,  that  yielded  little  beside  the  harsh  sedges  and  the  most 
worthless  aquatics,  have  repaid  in  the  first  crop,  the  heavy  cost 
of  draining  ;  and  given  back,  more  than  the  original  value  of  the 
soil.  The  Duke  of  Rutland  has  thus  redeemed  5500  acres  of 
land  ;  and  in  doing  so,  has  employed  11,000,000  tiles.  Hund- 
reds of  thousands  of  acres  of  marshes  and  fens,  once  covered 
with  peat  and  stagnant  water,  are  now  intersected  by  canals  ; 
and  in  many  instances,  the  water  is  lifted  out  by  powerful  steam 
engines,  leaving  fields  that  now  yearly  wave  with  golden  crops 
of  grain.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Ely,  is  a  tract  of  800  acres 
of  wet  land,  that  sold  for  as  many  shillings,  which  now  rents  for 
nearly  ten  dollars  the  acre. 

But  science  has  not  only  suggested  to  the  cultivator,  the  im- 
portance of  removing  by  subterranean  drains,  superfluous  water 
from  some  of  his  lands,  she  has  taught  him  the  value  of  the  con- 
verse process  of  introducing  it  upon  other  tracts,  by  means  of 
channels,  above  ground.  Reference  is  not  here  had  to  that  spe- 
cies of  irrigation,  which  has  been  practiced  from  the  oldest  times 
upon  the  parched  lands  of  Asia  and  Southern  Europe  ;  but  to 
the  system  of  winter  and  spring  flowing  of  grass  lands,  instituted 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  alkaline  silicates,  earthy  car- 
bonates, and  other  well  known  ingredients  of  the  grasses.  These 
are  brought  down  in  the  water,  draining  from  higher  regions,  and 
which  is  delivered  by  means  of  shallow  gutters,  carried  around 
the  descending  slopes,  tier  below  tier,  in  such  a  manner,  as  to 
be  distributed  over  the  intervening  valleys  and  flats.  By  this 
method,  wide  districts  have  actually  increased,  in  the  enormous 
ratio  of  800  per  cent,  upon  the  income  they  formerly  afforded. 

But  the  successes  obtained  in  the  counties  of  Norfolk  and 
Lincolnshire,  in  consequence  of  the  study  bestowed  upon  the 
composition  of  soils  and  fertilizers,  are  on  the  whole,  among  the 
most  striking  we  are  able  to  bring  forward,  and  serve  of  them- 
selves, to  place  scientific  farming  on  the  highest  possible  ground, 
as  contrasted  with  the  old  system  of  routine.  We  are  informed, 
that  the  late  Lord  Leicester  found  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 


n 

that  under  the  old  modes  of  culture,  his  naturally  barren, 
sandy  soils,  which  had  been  producing  only  poor  crops  of  rye, 
finally  ran  down,  so  as  to  command  a  rent  of  only  one  dollar 
and  a  quarter  per  acre.  As  a  last  resort,  it  was  turned  over  to 
the  improvements  of  science.  Well  contrived  experiments  were 
set  on  foot  in  every  possible  direction.  The  cake,  or  cheese, 
remaining  after  fixed  oils  are  expressed  from  oleaginous  seeds,  a 
substance  rich  in  phosphates,  produced  wonders  in  fitting  those 
lands  for  the  production  of  wheat.  Marls  were  turned  up,  and 
freely  applied  to  the  surface.  A  new  breed  of  sheep  was  intro- 
duced, in  place  of  one  less  profitable, — among  other  good  results 
of  which,  was  the  stamping  together  of  the  soil,  and  rendering  it 
more  tenacious  of  moisture.  Oxen  and  pigs  were  fattened  in 
great  numbers,  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  the  fields.  Bone- 
earth  was  applied  in  large  quantities,  as  a  manure  for  the  turnip- 
crop.  The  result  has  been,  that  it  has  become  one  of  the  finest 
wheat  regions  in  Britain. 

Still  another  proof  of  what  science  can  achieve  in  agriculture, 
is  afforded  in  the  contiguous  county  of  Lincolnshire,  which  little 
more  than  fifty  years  ago,  was  to  the  extent  of  one  quarter  of  its 
area,  little  better  than  a  perfect  waste.  It  contained  one  barren 
range  of  hills,  near  forty  miles  in  extent,  known  under  the  name 
of  Lincoln  heath  ;  where,  in  old  times,  a  light-house  was  erect- 
ed, to  prevent  travelers  from  being  lost  in  crossing  its  surface. 
It  now  presents  the  marvelous  contrast,  of  the  most  perfect  field- 
agriculture  in  the  whole  country ;  and  is  little  else,  than  a  suc- 
cession of  well  constructed  houses,  barns  and  offices,  surrounded 
with  crowded  grain-stacks,  on  farms,  varying  from  500  to  1000 
acres.  It  is  now  an  abundant  grain  country,  yielding  also  vast 
crops  of  turnips,  and  sustaining  immense  flocks  of  sheep.  One 
farmer  in  1823,  took  700  acres  of  this  once  inhospitable  and 
dreary  region,  then  not  worth  the  yearly  rent  of  a  pair  of  rab- 
bits, to  the  acre.  By  a  system  of  four-course  rotation  of  tur- 
nips, barley,  clover  and  wheat,  the  first  of  the  course  being 
sown  with  16  bushels  of  bones  per  acre,  and  the  turnips  con- 
sumed on  the  land  by  sheep,  together  with  the  feeding  of  hay 
and  straw  along  with  oil  cake  to  horned  cattle,  he  has  raised  the 
3 


18 

entire  tract  to  the  fertility  of  a  garden,  and  himself  to  indepen" 
dance.  The  wolds  of  Yorkshire,  to  the  north  of  Lincoln,  have 
undergone  a  similar  renovation. 

At  the  extreme  northern  end  of  Scotland,  in  latitude  58  1-2 
degrees,  where  less  than  50  years  ago,  a  few  small  farmers  liv- 
ed, in  rude  cabins,  and  under  the  shelter  of  side  hills,  whose 
only  stock  consisted  of  a  few  half  starved  cattle,  that  wandered 
over  fenceless  commons,  one  of  which  contained  60,000  acres, 
the  whole  is  now  under  cultivation.  Where  wheat  and  oats 
were  once  unknown  as  crops,  50  bushels  of  the  former  and  56 
of  the  latter,  are  now  often  quoted  ;  and  where  as  prolific  a 
yield  of  turnips  and  potatoes  is  afforded,  as  in  any  other  county 
of  Scotland. 

To  conclude  this  citation  of  facts,  I  adduce  the  case  of  Mr. 
John  Morton,  a  celebrated  writer  on  soils,  and  one  of  the  most 
truly  scientific  cultivators  in  England.  He  rents  the  farm,  call- 
ed Whitfield,  situated  about  13  miles  from  Bristol,  on  the  road 
to  Gloucester.  It  consists  of  232  acres.  Prior  to  1839,  it 
rented  for  ^  1000  a  year.  It  then  had  68  acres  arable,  and 
164  in  pasture.  The  produce  barely  enabled  the  tenant  to  hve 
in  a  poor  way,  and  to  lay  up  about  ^  140,  annually.  Under 
Mr.  Morton's  system,  the  profit,  over  the  old  management,  has 
been  fourfold  ;  and  he  gives  employment  to  more  than  three 
times  the  number  of  hands,  in  performing  the  work  of  the  farm. 
He  raises  26  tons  of  turnips  to  the  acre,  and  45  bushels  of  wheat. 

Notwithstanding  these  facts  concerning  the  increased  produce 
and  rents  in  Great  Britain,  doubts  may  still  exist  whether  after 
all,  they  grow  so  directly  out  of  the  possession  of  scientific 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  cultivator :  since  it  is  universally 
admitted,  that  the  farming  population  of  that  country  is  greatly 
behind  that  of  our  own,  in  general  intelligence.  Now  it  is  free- 
ly admitted,  that  this  is  true  of  the  mere  laborers  on  English  es- 
tates ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  these  persons  have 
just  as  much  to  do  with  the  planning  of  crops  and  the  stocking 
of  farms,  as  the  day  laborers  on  our  rail-roads  and  canals,  have 
with  the  department  of  engineering,  on  these  great  works.  Nine 
tenths  of  the  men  who  perform  the  agricultural  labor  in   that 


19 

country,  never  own,  nor  rent,  a  rood  of  ground.  Of  late  years, 
a  few  landlords  have,  under  what  is  called  the  allotment  system, 
granted  to  their  most  industrious  operatives,  who  for  good  con- 
duct are  also  able  to  procure  the  recommendation  of  the  clergy- 
man and  two  other  citizens  of  the  village,  the  enormous  boon  of 
the  rent  of  l-6th  of  an  English  acre  of  ground,  at  ten  dollars 
per  annum.  From  this,  it  will  easily  be  seen,  how  far  the  gen- 
eral intelligence  of  the  farming  population  in  Great  Britain,  is 
concerned  with  its  system  of  husbandry.  No ;  this  depends, 
comparatively  speaking,  upon  the  character  of  a  few  individuals, 
— upon  the  landlords,  and  the  principal  land-agents.  And  in 
relation  to  these,  nothing  is  more  freely  conceded  in  that  coun- 
try, than  that  the  improvements  have  been  confined  to  such 
among  them,  as  have  appreciated  science,  and  worked  in  con- 
formity with  its  fundamental  principles. 

Still,  all  may  not  be  convinced  that  we  of  New  England, 
need  any  considerable  modification  in  our  agriculture.  "  What," 
say  they,  "  are  we  not  making,  on  the  whole,  very  satisfactory 
crops  ?  Are  we  not  prospering,  beyond  any  other  people  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  ?  Then  let  us  adhere  to  the  prudent  max- 
im, of  letting  well  enough  alone."  Yes  ;  this  might  do,  if  the 
well  enough  of  others  would  only  let  us  alone.  If  these  con- 
tented persons  could  stop  the  advancing  ideas  of  their  children 
in  respect  to  a  higher  enjoyment  of  the  comforts  of  life,  and  a 
more  expensive  education,  if  they  could  keep  taxes  down,  and 
the  produce  of  western  lands  out,  they  might  get  along  for  half 
a  century  longer,  with  the  present  average  crops  of  25  bushels 
Indian  corn  to  the  acre,  of  12  of  rye,  15  of  oats,  a  couple  of 
cart  loads  of  potatoes,  a  ton  of  English  hay,  with  the  customary 
live  stock,  the  old  orchard,  and  the  meagre  garden  patch.  This 
fashion  of  cultivation  might  answer,  I  say,  if  the  world  of  enter- 
prise elsewhere,  would  wait  upon  them,  or  still  better,  if  it  would 
have  the  goodness  to  retrograde.  But  since  it  consents  to  do 
neither,  but  on  the  contrary,  is  steadily  advancing,  there  remains 
no  alternative  for  such  persons,  but  either  to  participate  in  the 
movement,  or  else  to  see  their  sons  quitting  their  homes  for  the 
•west,  or  the  ocean,  their  daughters  entering  the  cotton  mills,  and 


2b 

their  farms  sliding  from  under  them  into  more  enterprising 
hands. 

But  happily,  the  speedy  remedy  to  any  threatened  stagnation 
or  decline  in  New  England  farming,  is  in  the  hands  of  her  peo- 
ple. The  example  of  individuals  among  us,  who  are  already 
beginning  to  reap  a  rich  reward,  for  the  increased  assiduity,  with 
which  they  are  applying  themselves  to  the  improvements  of  the 
day,  is  fraught  with  the  highest  encouragement.  Let  land-own- 
ers here  as  in  Great  Britain,  study  with  diligence,  the  principles 
of  their  art.  And  particularly,  let  them  lay  a  broad  basis  for 
the  scientific  training  of  the  rising  generation.  Nothing  short  of 
a  thorough  incorporation  of  the  elements  of  the  physical  sciences 
with  our  system  of  common  schools,  will  in  the  long  run,  answer 
the  emergency.  And  for  accomplishing  this,  there  must  also  be 
established,  a  class  of  higher  institutions  for  the  preparation  of 
teachers,  as  well  as  for  the  thorough  education  in  practical  farm- 
ing, of  individuals  who  have  before  them,  the  prospect  of  man- 
aging large  estates. 

It  would  be  of  great  advantage,  for  instance,  if  the  country 
school  could  have  the  opportunity,  during  two  half  days  of  each 
week,  of  seeing  experiments  in  mechanical  and  chemical  sci- 
ence, of  being  drilled  with  examinations,  and  of  being  stimulated 
by  suitable  prizes,  to  proficiency  in  these  branches  of  knowledge, 
under  the  direction  of  a  fully  qualified  teacher,  who  might  per- 
form this  service  for  four  or  five  schools  at  the  same  time.  The 
young  would  thereby  become  convinced  of  the  importance  of 
such  studies  ;  and  would  early  acquire  habits  of  investigation, 
that  would  both  stimulate  and  assist,  in  the  subsequent  work  of 
self-education. 

But  leaving  the  more  elementary  schools,  I  proceed  to  speak 
with  more  detail  of  the  agricultural  school,  a  topic  which  is  be- 
ginning to  take  a  deep  hold  of  the  public  mind. 

Many  persons  appear  to  think,  that  our  college  course  can  be 
so  modified,  as  to  fulfill  at  the  same  time,  the  literary  and  the 
agricultural  requisition.  It  does  not  appear  to  me,  that  such  a 
plan  is  likely  to  succeed.  Heretofore  most  certainly,  whatever 
else  the  college  has  afforded,    it   has  turned  out  few  practical 


•21 

farmers.  Even  those,  who  enter  as  well  drilled  and  expert 
in  fanning  operations,  by  the  time  they  reach  the  terminus  of 
their  course,  if  they  do  justice  to  the  college  studies  and  become 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  place,  become  rath- 
er awkward  on  the  farm  ;  and  it  very  soon  begins  to  appear, 
that  to  be  college-learnt,  is  to  be  farm-unlearnt.  And  I  hardly 
know  of  men  more  to  be  pitied,  than  those  who  from  feeble 
health  or  any  other  cause,  have  failed  in  a  professional  or  litera- 
ry career  (to  prepare  for  which,  the  college  course  is  chiefly  in- 
tended) and  who  are  obliged  to  fall  back  upon  the  farm  for  a 
livelihood.  In  all  the  practical  labors  of  husbandry,  they  seem 
to  have  lost  the  art  of  taking  hold  of  things  by  the  smooth  han- 
dle ;  and  their  blunders  in  live-stock,  are  almost  sure  to  make 
them  the  laughing-stock  of  their  neighbors.  Now  there  is  noth- 
ing surprising  in  this,  if  we  consider  the  object  of  college  ed- 
ucation. The  college  is  not  intended  for  persons  who  are  to 
occupy  themselves  much  with  physical  matters.  Even  the  boys  un- 
derstand this  perfectly  well ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  not  a  few 
importune  their  parents  to  gain  admission  there  from  no  higher  mo- 
tive, than  to  get  clear  of  muscular  effort ;  though  it  is  generally  ob- 
served, that  such  are  equally  shy  of  intellectual  exertion.  No :  the 
college  is  a  place  for  the  training  of  persons,  who,  if  they  are 
ever  to  work  at  all,  must  do  so,  through  the  medium  of  rnind,  as 
scholars,  as  statesmen,  as  clergymen,  or  in  the  medical  or  legal 
profession.  Nothing  can  be  more  unreasonable  than  to  suppose, 
that  we  see  the  practical  use  of  the  sciences  to  mankind,  in  the 
lives  of  our  college  graduates.  Why,  the  college  course  is  chief- 
ly made  up  of  a  study  of  the  literature  and  philosophy  of  the 
ancients,  to  whom  our  sciences  were  a  dead  letter,  and  of  the 
elements  of  mathematics  and  geometry,  to  which  is  added  a 
sprinkling  of  metaphysics  and  logic,  and  considerable  drilling  in 
English  composition  and  elocution.  On  these  studies,  and  good 
morals,  the  discipline  and  the  honors  of  the  college  turn.  Lec- 
tures are  given  indeed,  on  some  of  the  modern  sciences,  but  less 
with  a  view  to  their  bearing  on  the  arts  of  life,  than  to  the  pur- 
pose of  intellectual  discipline  and  general  accomplishment.  No 
•teacher  would  be  tolerated,  who  should  more  than  incidentally 


22 

allude  to  any  common  use,  like  that  of  economical  profit,  that 
could  be  made  of  them.  The  college  is  not  the  place  for  learn- 
ing rules  of  thrift.  It  pre-supposes  a  degree  of  independence  ; 
and  in  cases  where  this  is  not  enjoyed,  it  takes  it  for  granted, 
that  money-making  is  to  be  held  as  a  secondary  consideration 
with  all  who  partake  of  its  benefits.  The  college  graduate  is 
never  to  seek  glory  in  wealth,  but  in  knowledge,  and  in  useful- 
ness of  a  lofty  kind  to  his  fellow-men.  This  I  take  to  be  the 
true  theory  of  the  college,  and  of  literary  life  in  general.  Both 
hold  themselves  at  the  most  respectful  remove  possible,  from 
all  contact  with  matter,  and  the  every  day  labors  of  men  engag- 
ed in  the  arts.  I  might  perhaps  afford  you  an  illustration  of  the 
truth  of  this  representation.  A  president  of  one  of  these  institu- 
tions, on  being  shown  through  the  physical  department  of  anoth- 
er, the  best  endowed  in  natural  sciences  of  any  in  the  coun- 
try, on  taking  leave  of  the  distinguished  professor,  who  had 
been  his  conductor,  begged  to  know  of  what  conceivable  use  to 
mankind,  were  all  such  provisions  !  Here  was  a  distinguished 
scholar,  at  the  head  of  an  American  college,  who  had  got  so 
completely  away  from  matter,  as  not  to  be  conscious,  that  a 
knowledge  of  its  properties  was  of  the  least  utility  to  mankind  ! 
Take  one  other  exemplification  of  the  difficulty,  which  the 
mere  literary  man  experiences,  in  estimating  aright,  the  practi- 
cal business  of  life.  One  of  the  most  eminent  of  American 
scholars,  and  at  the  same  time  a  distinguished  statesman,  argued 
a  short  time  ago  in  Congress,  against  the  employment  of  the 
Smithsonian  fund,  for  purposes  of  practical  advantage, — using 
the  word  practical  here,  in  its  common  acceptation,  and  of 
course,  in  opposition  to  its  college  and  literary  use.  He  enter- 
tained the  House  of  Representatives  with  a  strain  of  fine 
thoughts,  expressed  in  lofty  diction,  in  favor  of  appropriating 
the  money,  to  the  purchase  of  a  library.  In  the  course  of  his 
remarks,  he  insisted,  that  "  a  laboratory  was  a  mere  chamel 
house,  and  that  experiments  are  but  the  dry  bones  of  science." 
He  would  direct  the  attention  of  mankind  away  from  matter, 
"  to  those  great  subjects,"  as  he  was  pleased  to  style  them, 
"  which  are  not  bounded  by  the  three  dimensions,  which  are  not 


23 

ponderable,  not  cognizable  by  any  of  the  senses.'"  In  the  balls 
of  the  American  Congress,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen 
hundred  and  forty-six,  asked  this  polished  orator,  in  dead  ear- 
nest, "  What  have  our  boasted  researches  taught  us  to  accom- 
plish in  the  industrial  arts,  that  the  cunning  workmen  of  Egypt 
and  Tyre  and  Greece  could  not  do,  three  thousand  years  ago  ?" 
And  to  crown  the  climax,  he  claimed,  that  our  independence 
was  declared  and  maintained  by  scholars !  Listen  to  the  decla- 
ration, ye  shades  of  Washington — the  farmer  and  civil  engineer, 
of  Franklin — the  printer  and  electrician,  and  of  Jefferson — the 
man  who  has  left  this  testimony  of  scholastic  pursuits, — "  the 
business  of  life,"  says  he,  "  is  with  matter,  that  gives  tangible 
results  ;  handling  that,  we  come  at  the  knowledge  of  the  axe, 
the  plough,  the  steamboat,  and  every  thing  useful  in  life ;  but 
from  metaphysical  speculations,  I  have  never  seen  one  useful 
result."  Fortunately  the  argument  of  the  scholar,  on  that  occa- 
sion, fell  into  something  very  like  the  laboratory  he  so  much  ab- 
horred, where  it  was  first  analyzed,  and  then  weighed  in  the 
balance  of  common  sense.  And  the  result  of  the  whole  was, 
that  in  spite  of  it,  that  noblest  bequest  of  a  practical  chemist,  to 
a  practical  people,  was  saved,  from  what  would  have  been  little 
better,  than  a  sequestration. 

The  time  has  fairly  arrived,  when  society  should  understand 
what  it  has  a  right  to  expect  from  the  college  ;  when  it  should 
know  this  at  least,  that  it  is  not  the  most  likely  place  to  look  for 
amelioration  in  the  practical  arts,  especially  in  that  of  agricul- 
ture. The  college  has  enough  to  do,  to  qualify  for  head-work. 
There  must  be  some  other  institution,  in  which  young  men  can 
be  taught  to  work  on  matter,  as  well  as  upon  mind.  To  send  a 
lad  to  college  whom  you  intend  to  make  a  farmer,  is  putting 
him  on  the  wrong  track.  The  four  years  spent  there,  would  be 
an  episode,  a  parenthesis  in  the  preparation  for  active  life  on  a 
farm.  I  say  not  that  it  would  disqualify  him  from  leading  the 
life  of  a  gentleman,  provided  his  means  were  sufficiently  ample ; 
but  it  would  assuredly  be  a  bad  thing  for  him,  ever  to  take  off 
his  gloves  on  a  farm,  after  he  had  touched  his  diploma.* 

*  In  these  remarks  npon  the  inadequacy  of  the  college  proper,  for  prepar- 


94 

I  should  shrink  from  the  attempt  even,  to  draw  out  the  plan 
of  such  an  institution,  as  is  required  to  meet  the  wants  of  this 
greatest  of  all  the  branches  of  practical  industry.  To  frame 
such  a  scheme,  will  demand  no  small  share  of  deliberation  and 
forecast.  No  institutions  are  now  in  existence,  upon  which  they 
can  be  directly  modeled.  In  this  state  of  the  case,  it  may  not 
perhaps  be  deemed  impertinent  for  me,  to  direct  the  attention  of 
this  audience,  to  what  has  been  done  in  Europe  in  behalf  of  an 
allied  art  or  profession,  which  sustains  a  very  close  relation  to 
agriculture.  1  allude  to  that  of  raining.  Like  agriculture,  it 
requires  the  use  of  numerous  sciences.  As  the  farmer  must 
know  his  crops,  together  with  many  other  plants  which  are 
either  useless  or  noxious,  so  the  miner  must  be  able  to  recognize 
his  ores,  and  those  associated  mineral  substances,  which  are 
either  worthless  or  injurious.  As  the  farmer  must  understand 
his  soils  and  subsoils,  and  the  connection  of  both  with  the  rock 
formations  in  which  they  originated,  so  the  miner  must  compre- 
hend the  various  strata,  which  include  his  veins  and  beds  of  ore. 
The  different  processes  employed  in  harvesting  and  preparing 
crops  for  the  markets,  are  in  some  sense,  analogous  to  the  rais- 
ing and  dressing  of  ores  ;  while  draining,  surveying,  and  archi- 
tecture, are  required  in  both.  Farming  and  mining  both  make 
a  constant  and  similar  use  of  chemistry,  in  the  work  of  analysis. 
There  is  indeed  this  difference,  that  the  labors  of  the  miner  are 
attended  with  much  greater  risks  as  to  remuneration,  and  with 
greatly  increased  dangers  to  health  and  life.     But  it  is  reasona- 

ing  persons  for  the  practice  of  the  arts,  I  trust  that  I  shall  not  be  thought 
wanting  in  a  proper  regard  for  these  institutions.  Having,  either  as  pupil  or 
teacher,  passed  (he  greatest  part  of  my  life  in  connection  with  the  college,  I 
can  but  accord  to  it,  the  highest  respect  and  even  filial  affection :  but  this 
veneration  is  solely  on  account  of  the  important,  and  truly  noble  end  it  ac- 
complishes, in  laying  the  foundation  of  professional  or  literary  eminence; 
and  not  on  account  of  its  direct  service  to  the  manual  arts.  These  it  never 
has  embraced  within  its  plan  ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  see  how  any  change  can  ever 
be  made  in  this  respect,  which  shall  fully  answer  the  wants  of  practical  men  : 
although  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  existence  of  an  agricultural  school 
in  immediate  connection  with  a  college,  whose  scientific  faculty  might  even 
assist  in  a  school  of  arts,  and  in  this  way,  materially  abridge  the  expensive- 
ness  of  such  an  institution. 


•25 

ble,  nevertheless,  that  histitutions  expressly  contrived  for  the 
benefit  of  the  miner,  and  which  have  been  nearly  a  century  in 
existence,  should  throw  some  light  upon  those  we  would  invent 
for  the  use  of  the  farmer. 

The  most  ancient  of  these  institutions,  is  that  of  Freiberg,  in 
Saxony.  It  was  founded  in  1765  by  Prince  Xaver,  and  early 
placed  under  the  control  of  the  celebrated  mineralogist,  Werner. 
At  the  present  time,  it  has  eleven  professors,  on  the  following 
branches  :  viz.  General  chemistry,  technical  chemistry,  analyti- 
cal chemistry,  mineralogy  and  geology  in  all  their  branches,  nat- 
ural philosophy,  the  pure  and  the  higher  mathematics,  mathe- 
matics applied,  mining  machinery,  general  surveying  and  practi- 
cal geometry,  mining  jurisprudence  and  correspondence,  and  the 
art  of  mining.  In  addition  to  the  corps  of  professors,  it  has  a 
surveyor,  a  draftsman,  an  assay-master,  and  a  teacher  of  French. 
Candidates  for  admission  must  produce  certificates  of  health, 
character,  and  a  certain  proficiency  in  the  common  branches  of 
school  education.  A  limited  number  are  supported  by  the  gov- 
ernment. The  lectures  open  in  October  and  terminate  in  July, 
the  vacations  being  devoted  to  mining  excursions.  The  instruc- 
tion is  communicated  by  lectures,  illustrated  by  figures  on  the 
black-board,  by  experiments,  by  specimens  and  by  models,  as 
the  nature  of  the  subjects  may  require.  Mondays  are  devoted 
to  the  inspection  of  mines  in  the  vicinity, — there  being  within  a 
circuit  of  three  miles,  no  less  than  1 00  ;  in  which,  are  about 
200  vertical  shafts  and  250,000  fathoms  of  adit,  wherein  may 
be  viewed  every  species  of  timbering  and  masonry.  The  pupils 
are  required  to  keep  a  fair  copy  of  their  notes,  and  of  all  their 
lectures.  At  the  end  of  each  month,  they  undergo  a  rigid  ex- 
amination upon  all  their  studies  ;  and  at  the  close  of  each  year, 
are  rewarded  according  to  the  result.  The  course  extends 
through  a  period  of  four  years  ;  and  is  admirably  contrived  for 
insuring  correct  practice,  in  every  detail  of  the  art,  and  at  the 
same  time,  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  principles  on  which 
that  practice  depends. 

Another  of  these  institutions,  most  worthy  perhaps  of  being 
(iescribed,  was  founded  in  1770,  at  Schemnetz  in  Hungary,  by 
4 


26 

the  Empress,  Maria  Theresa,  by  whom  it  was  also  endowed^ 
with  great  liberahty.  During  the  3d  year  of  the  course  at 
Schemnetz,  the  pupils  are  required  on  one  day  of  each  week,  la 
go  through  a  portion  of  some  mine,  and  to  make  out  a  written 
report  of  every  thing  that  concerns  its  condition.  Some  of  the 
pooi'er  young  men,  even  take  jobs  in  the  mine,  which  serve  in 
part,  to  defray  their  expenses.  The  semi-annual  examinations 
are  held,  not  for  the  vain  purpose  of  showing  off,  but  for  deter- 
mining in  the  strictest  manner,  what  each  pupil  has  learned. 
The  questions  are  written  on  small  slips  of  paper,  and  are  drawn 
out  by  lot  by  the  students,  who  give  the  answers  on  the  spot. 
The  most  successful  are  rewarded,  by  having  the  charge  of  their 
education  almost  wholly  remitted  ;  while  those  who  fall  below  a 
certain  standard,  are  forced  to  relinquish  all  hope  of  ever  ob- 
taining government  employ.  The  number  of  pupils  in  this  in- 
stitution is,  at  present,  between  three  and  four  hundred. 

Before  dismissing  these  admirable  institutions,  here  brought 
forward,  for  illustrating  what  we  need  in  this  country,  in  order 
to  place  agriculture  on  the  highest  ground  of  success,  I  cannot 
help  observing,  that  the  time  has  also  arrived  for  establishing  a 
mining  school  itself.  Who  that  beholds  the  extravagant  zeal  of 
our  citizens  for  mining  in  the  north-west,  where  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  have,  within  a  short  period,  been  expended, 
and  where  it  is  reported  that  15,000,000  of  dollars  have  been 
hypothecated  in  copper  adventures,  can  for  a  moment  doubt, 
that  our  progress  is  too  rapid,  if  not  in  the  wrong  direction.  I 
shall  yield  to  no  man  in  a  high  estimate  of  what  American  en- 
terprise can  achieve,  where  the  field  is  a  legitimate  one,  and  the 
means  employed,  in  accordance  with  sober  experience,  enlight- 
ened by  science  ;  but  it  certainly  requires  no  prophet's  ken  to 
foresee,  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  undertakings  re- 
ferred to,  must  end  in  nothing  but  rebuff  and  disaster.  This 
government  possesses,  in  its  wide  public  domain,  the  strongest 
possible  interest  to  copy,  even  at  this  late  day,  the  intelligence 
of  Germany,  in  establishing  an  institution  for  promoting  the 
knowledge  of  mining.  But  advantageous  as  it  would  undoubt- 
edly prove  to  the  public  interest,   and  beneficent  as  it  could  not 


•27 

fall  of  being,  to  those  directly  engaged  in  underground  labors,  It 
is  too  much  to  hope  that  it  will  receive  any  efficient  patronage 
from  a  people  not  yet  sufficiently  weaned  from  the  practice  of 
war.  Millions  can  yet  be  had,  for  multiplying  the  engines  of 
destruction,  but  little  for  promoting  the  arts  of  peace.  Whatev- 
er else  we  may  expect,  government  institutions  for  mining  and 
agriculture,  need  not  be  looked  for  in  this  country,  so  long  as 
the  star  of  military  glory  is  in  the  ascendant.  From  those 
states,  in  which  civilization  and  refinement  have  rendered  war 
measurably  repugnant  to  the  popular  feeling,  we  may  hope  for 
a  liberal  bounty  in  favor  of  such  undertakings,  but  from  the  still 
barbaric  genius  of  the  nation,  nothing. 

But  I  return  to  the  agricultural  school,  upon  whose  office  I 
have  endeavored  to  throw  some  light,  by  describing  what  has 
been  done  by  foreign  institutions,  in  behalf  of  the  sister  art  of 
mining.  Its  general  province  and  scope  must,  after  what  has 
been  said,  suggest  themselves  to  my  hearers.  Without  attempt- 
ing to  enumerate  the  branches  it  should  teach,  or  the  number  of 
instructors  it  should  have,  I  will  only  venture  to  state  my  hearty 
concurrence  in  the  suggestion,  which  some  of  the  leading  papers 
in  this  state  have  made,  that  it  be  located  near  the  region  of  the 
Connecticut  valley ;  and  that  there  be  connected  with  it,  a  tract 
of  land  sufficiently  ample  for  cultivating  every  variety  of  crop, 
and  for  rearing  every  species  of  stock,  suited  to  our  climate  ;  and 
still  farther,  to  add,  that  it  should  have  cabinets  rich  in  the  ne- 
cessary apparatus,  a  botanic  garden,  representing  all  the  great 
families  of  plants,  a  laboratory  in  which  the  work  of  analysis 
should  never  stop,  and  a  severity  of  discipline  equal  to  that  of 
West  Point. 

It  would  be  an  easy  task  to  go  on  pointing  out  other  advanta- 
ges of  such  an  institution,  but  I  dare  not  presume  farther  upon 
your  patience,  than  to  allude  to  one  or  two,  in  addition  to 
those  already  hinted  at,  in  the  progress  of  this  discourse.  It 
would  enable  many  a  lad,  not  born  on  the  farm,  the  sons  of  men 
in  professional  life,  or  of  merchants  and  artisans,  to  prepare 
themselves  for  agricultural  pursuits.  It  would  be  a  safety-valve 
to  the  college,  now  disproportionately  thronged,  and  would  some- 


28 

times  free  it  of  a  youth,  whose  frohcsome  career  betrays,  that  it 
was  not  purely  intellectual  occupation  for  which  nature  intend- 
ed him,  but  rather,  that  admirable  combination  of  hand-work 
with  head-work,  which  the  farm  so  well  supplies. 

And  besides  the  improved  methods  of  husbandry,  which  would 
be  likely  to  grow  out  of  such  an  institution,  may  we  not  reason- 
ably calculate  upon  its  affording  important  aid  in  contending 
with  those  diseases,  to  which  the  most  important  plants  and 
fruits  seem  Hable,  as  the  result  of  long,  artificial  cultivation. 
Consider  for  a  moment,  the  present  position  of  society  from  the 
threatened  loss  of  the  potatoe  crop.  Here  is  a  disease  in  the 
tuber  of  this  plant,  that  thus  far,  defies  all  scrutiny.  We  have 
neither  found  its  cause  nor  its  remedy.  And  yet,  as  in  a  time 
of  pestilence  among  men,  few  are  so  absurd  as  to  look  for  miti- 
gation or  relief,  except  from  the  resources  of  science  ;  so  here, 
the  most  obtuse  are  probably  convinced,  that  our  only  hope  is 
in  a  similar  direction.  And  what  a  splendid  gift  would  it  be,  if 
science  shall  be  able  to  restore  to  us  the  independence  we  pos- 
sessed in  this  plant,  prior  to  the  year  1840  !  For  the  potatoe  is 
a  vegetable,  which  the  rich  man  knows  not  how  to  forego  ;  and 
one,  which  places  the  poor  man,  above  want.  With  a  shelter 
from  the  weather,  and  one  or  two  acres  of  ground  to  plant  with 
this  tuber,  man  may  subsist  at  almost  any  distance  from  the  mil- 
ler, the  baker,  the  butcher,  and  I  may  almost  add,  the  doctor. 
It  suits  all  tastes,  flourishes  in  nearly  all  climates,  and  is  emi- 
nently nutritious  and  healthful.  Its  cultivation  demands  but  lit- 
tle labor,  and  when  the  earth  has  ripened  the  tubers,  they  are 
harvested  without  trouble,  and  cooked  without  expense.  A  few 
faggots  in  summer  will  boil  them,  and  in  winter  the  necessary 
heat  is  supplied  without  expense.  There  is  no  waste  of  time  in 
the  processes  of  milling,  sifting,  kneading,  baking,  seasoning, 
jointing  or  carving.  There  is  nothing  deficient  nor  superfluous  in 
a  well  boiled  potatoe.  As  soon  as  it  is  cooked,  it  opens  by 
chinks,  lets  fall  its  thin  pellicle  upon  the  platter,  and  with  a  lit- 
tle salt,  butter  or  milk,  is  ready  for  the  unfastidious  appetite  of 
the  hungry  man.  Start  not  back  with  surprise,  at  the  idea  of 
subsisting  upon  the  potatoe  alone,  ye  who  think  it  necessary  to 


'29 

load  your  tables  with  all   the  dainty  viands  of  the  market,  with 
fish,  flesh  and  fowl,   seasoned  with   oils  and  spices,   and  eaten 
perhaps  with  wines, — start  not  back,  I  say,  with  feigned  disgust, 
until   you  are  able  to  display  in  your  own   pampered   persons,  a 
firmer  muscle,   a  more  beau  ideal  outline,   and   a   healthier  red, 
than  the  potatoe-fed  peasantry  of  Ireland  and  Scotland  once 
showed  you,  as  you  passed  their  cabin  doors  !     No  ;  the  chem- 
ical physiologist  will  tell   you,   that   the  well   ripened   potatoe, 
when  properly  cooked,  contains  every  element,  that  man  requires 
for  nutrition  ^  and  in  the  best  proportions,  in  which  they  are  found 
in   any   plant  whatever.     There    is    the  abounding    supply  of 
starch,  for  enabling  him  to  maintain  the   process  of  breathing, 
and  for  generating  the  necessary  warmth  of  body  ;  there  is  the 
nitrogen  for  contributing  to  the  growth  and  renovation  of  organs  ; 
the  lime  and   the  phosphorus  for  the   bones,   and  all   the  salts 
which  a  healthy  circulation  demands.     In  fine,  the  potatoe  may 
well  be  called  the  universal  plant ;  and  the  disease  under  which 
it  now  labors,   is  therefore,  an  universal  calamity.     If  any  agri- 
cultural  institution   should   ever  be  so  fortunate  as   to  make  us 
acquainted  with  the  means  of  controlling   it,   its   name  would 
quickly  rank  by  the  side  of  the  proudest  universities  ;  and  if  the 
great  discovery  should  proceed  from  a  single  individual,  his  name 
would  live,  when  those  of  the  greatest  generals  and  conquerors, 
have  become  as  uncouth  and  strange  to  human  utterance,  as 
their  deeds  were  unfriendly  and  opposed  to  human  happiness. 

It  is  indeed  a  pleasing  task,  to  anticipate  the  glories  of  the 
new  day  of  improvement  and  success,  which  is  dawning  upon 
the  cultivators  of  the  soil.  Already  has  the  era  of  amelioration 
arrived.  The  number  and  the  zeal  of  associations,  like  yours, 
are  significant  omens.  The  results  before  and  around  us,  are 
most  encouraging ;  and  the  high  standard  of  improvement  every 
where  visible,  is  a  sure  presage  of  ultimate  triumph.  A  new 
vigor  has  been  infused  into  the  farmer's  life ;  and  though  an  old 
and  venerable  occupation,  it  has,  in  some  sort,  taken  on  a  new 
youth  ;  and  this  youth  seems  inspired  with  insatiable  desires  and 
the  most  exulting  hope.  Be  encouraged  then  with  the  old 
German   proverb,  that  what  we  strive  after  in   youth,  we  shall 


30 

attain  to  fulness  in  old  age  ;  and  concerning  which,  Goethe,  the 
poet  and  the  naturalist,  has  given  this  fine  commentary,  "  that 
our  wishes  are  presentiments  of  the  faculties  which  lie  within  us, 
and  harbingers  of  that,  which  we  shall  be  in  a  condition  to  per- 
form." Thus,  I  easily  persuade  myself,  it  will  prove  in  your 
case,  in  the  distinguished  zeal  you  are  exhibiting  for  the  im- 
provement of  your  profession. 

When  your  example  shall  be  adopted,  throughout  the  coun- 
ties of  New  England,  a  new  order  of  thrift  and  intelligence  will 
be  discerned  among  the  rural  population.  The  more  certain 
success,  which  will  then  wait  upon  the  husbandman,  shall  super- 
sede the  farther  necessity  for  his  emigration  towards  the  setting 
sun ;  and  the  higher  intelligence  and  refinement,  which  shall 
then  prevail,  will  cease  to  urge  with  such  undesirable  force,  such 
troops  of  our  most  promising  country  youth,  to  seek  their  for- 
tunes in  city  life ;  where  alas,  the  temptations  to  vice  and  the 
rush  of  competition,  so  often  frustrate  all  their  hopes.  Then 
will  it  be  seen,  that  the  most  infertile  of  our  districts,  will  be 
competent  to  sustain  in  comfort  and  wealth  even,  a  vastly  aug- 
mented population.  Then  will  it  most  clearly  appear,  that  there 
exists  no  real  incompatibility,  between  the  labors  of  the  field  and 
a  certain  degree  of  mental  culture  and  simple  refinement ;  but 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  uncontaminated  air  of  heaven,  which 
the  farmer  breathes,  the  beautiful  forms  with  which  nature  every 
where  surrounds  him,  in  her  productions,  and  the  constant  wit- 
ness, which  he  is,  in  his  labors,  of  the  beneficial  operation  of 
great  natural  laws,  powerfully  conspire  to  the  formation  of  a 
pure  and  noble  character ;  and  may  well  justify  the  expectation, 
that  the  country  will  continue  to  accomplish  more  fully  in  time 
to  come,  than  she  has  done  even  in  the  past,  her  destiny,  of 
supplying  to  science  and  literature  her  most  successful  profi- 
cients, to  the  learned  professions  their  most  distinguished  orna- 
ments, and  to  our  great  towns  their  most  valued  citizens  ;  while 
she  is  still  able  to  retain  enough  of  solid  wjonh  and  attractions  at 
home,  to  enable  her  to  make  reprisals  on  the  city,  by  recovering 
to  her  own  blissful  retirement,  many  a  man,  who  in  youth,  with 
sound  constitution  and  upright   purpose,  entered   the  great  mart 


f 


31 

of  trade,  but  who  amid  all  his  successes  kept  alive  enough  of 
nature  in  his  soul,  to  bring  him  back  again  to  her  peaceful  re- 
treats, in  the  evening  of  his  days. 

To  the  spirit  of  agricultural  improvement,  we  look  also,  with 
hope,  that  it  will  extinguish  all  lingering  remains  of  military  am- 
bition ;  and  that  under  its  benign  and  humanizing  sway,  we 
shall  become  more  emulous  of  re-conquering  the  wastes  within 
our  borders,  than  of  adding  new  wildernesses  to  our  already  too 
extended  domain.  What  room  is  there  for  brilliant  achievement 
even  in  New  England,  in  expelling  those  unsightly  enemies  of 
the  husbandman,  that  have  been  permitted  to  overrun  so  large  a 
portion  of  our  fair  inheritance.  Turn  your  eyes,  ye  martial  spir- 
its of  Massachusetts,  to  that  army  of  golden  rods,  waving  their 
yellow  plumes  upon  a  thousand  hills  ;  see  yonder  dauntless  array 
of  life-everlastings,  that  crowd  the  wide  champaigns  ;  see  our 
highways,  and  the  contiguous  fields,  beset  by  insolent  hordes  of 
muUen  and  thistles,  and  fair  meadows,  where  once  flourished  the 
golden  grain,  now  covered  with  base  daisies  and  sorrel.  What 
fields  of  glory  await  you,  at  your  very  dooi-s.  To  dispossess 
these  daring  invaders,  shall  yield  you  a  hundred  fold  more  of 
true  glory,  than  to  follow  the  stripes  and  stars  from  Labrador  to 
Cape  Horn  !  In  the  coming  age  of  improvement,  who  shall 
say,  that  to  subdue  and  eradicate  one  of  these  pests  to  the  farm- 
er, will  not  bring  as  bright  a  chaplet  of  fame,  as  it  now  can  do, 
to  trample  down  a  human  foe  ?  Who  shall  say,  that  he  who 
shall  prove  himself  foremost  in  peaceful  labors  like  these  that 
exalt  human  happiness,  may  not  reap  the  highest  gift  of  a  grate- 
ful country,  as  surely,  as  he  who  holds  himself  ready  to  barter 
his  conscience  in  the  shambles  of  party,  or  risk  his  life  in  the 
barbarous  perils  of  war  ? 

But  to  whatever  pitch  of  improvement  other  portions  of  our 
great  and  highly  favored  country  may  attain,  none  can  doubt, 
that  this  particular  section  of  it,  is  destined  to  maintain  a  proud 
pre-eminence.  Nature  herself,  doth  here  stimulate  man  to  put 
forth  his  noblest  efforts  ;  for  she  gives  him  a  surface  to  act  upon, 
where  she  has  lavished  her  most  abundant  gifts.     She  has  made 


32 

the  Connecticut  valley  the  glory  of  the  land  ;  and  she  has  cast 
the  outlines  of  this  portion  of  it,  in  her  most  bewitching  mould. 
So  fraught  with  beauty  is  it  even,  that  the  passing  traveler  chides 
that  noisy  power  of  modern  improvement,  which  sweeps  him  too 
quickly  along,  where  he  would  fain  hnger,  in  silent  admiration, 
or  calm  delight. 

"  Enchanting  vale  !  beyond  whate'er  the  muse 

Has  of  Achaia  or  Hesperia  sung  ! 

O  vale  of  bliss  !     O  softly  swelling  hills  ! 

On  which  the  power  of  cultivation  lies, 

And  joys  to  see  the  wonders  of  his  toil. 

O  what  a  goodly  prospect  spreads  around, 

Of  hills  and  dales  and  woods  and  lawns  and  spires. 

And  glittering  towns  and  gilded  streams,  till  all 

The  stretching  landscape  into  smoke  decays !" 


<, 


